


Handsome Jack Will Live On

by SparkyNomad



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Flashbacks, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Borderlands 3 (Video Game), Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:27:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyNomad/pseuds/SparkyNomad
Summary: Handsome Jack finds himself once again out and about in his AI form. It takes him by surprise at first, especially after being locked away for so long, but he can learn to embrace it. Even if he is very limited in what he can do.But after chatting with Grace Steele, a Hyperion Scientist who has managed to survive on Pandora longer than most of his employees, it seems there could be hope for Handsome Jack yet.Audio Version:https://soundcloud.com/sparky-nomad/handsome-jack-will-live-on-chapter-one
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still getting back into writing and my own theories of how Jack could potentially come back are included in this piece. Theories of how things have come about are also in here.  
> This story starts with a chapter of flashbacks, memories and wishes, getting more into the nitty gritty as it goes on.
> 
> Any comments are welcome and appreciated! <3

“HEY! How ‘bout we find a Hyperion constructor and Get me outta this gun, huh?”

There were only so many times he could say this before he would realise this person was another one of the goddamn idiots who would ignore his pleas, his cries for help. Jack would always pride himself on never needing anyone else’s help, but that was mainly before he went ahead and got himself killed and ended up as an artificial intelligence of himself. These days he was confined within a Hyperion SMG and as much as he enjoyed being a gun, his limited phrases were starting to drive him even closer to madness.

Can AI go mad? Crazy? He’d heard of rampancy, but that was after seven years of active service - if it was even a thing. After Nakapyjama created him in AI form, he was always conscious but never considered himself “active”, stuck inside that tiny little box, dreaming up scenarios to play around in. That was a great thing about being in that tiny little box. It could be as big as he wanted it to be. He could even set it up to look like Pandora! And there were times he did, if only to murder those bandits over and over; destroy Sanctuary with the moonshots; reconfigure the Eye of Helios and wipe them off the face of Pandora; stand with a pistol held firm to Lilith’s forehead, forcing her to her knees in front of him, fear in her eyes, and pull the trigger, watching the life seep from her eyes as he could hear the others screams of terror. Oh how he had laughed. Laughed and laughed. Until he came to the realisation that however real this felt to him in his tiny little box, it wasn’t real. And somewhere, out there, Lilith, the Crimson Raiders, those goddamn bandits were still roaming around on HIS Pandora.

Then came Rhys. Little Rhysie and his Jack obsessed mind. Of course he was obsessed with Jack, who wasn’t? But that kid? Wow. That mind was something else. He was like an open book. Every drawer Jack went to in Rhys’ Echo storage opened for him, and there were things in there he really didn’t think he wanted to see. But they amused him all the same. He’d had full access to all of his memories stored since gaining the implant. Did Rhys even realise his storage was filling up? Or maybe it was Jack himself filling it up? More than likely. He was thankful to Rhys. He’d gotten him out of that tiny little box to stretch his legs and crack his neck and even if he couldn’t wrap his hands around Rhys’ neck and re-enjoy the sensation of life exiting a body by his hand, he still allowed him to see the outside world again.

But with Rhys, came the fall of Helios. Jack had managed to get himself exactly where he wanted – within the Helios mainframe. Oh man, he’d forgotten what this much power felt like, and this was ACTUAL power! Not some theoretical power which caused people to shit themselves when he spoke! The control over Helios was exactly what he wanted. Daddy’s Home. But the anger he had felt as he watched Rhys destroying his hard work, the helplessness and he watched the face of Pandora getting closer and closer. The screams of those trapped on Helios as the station fell faster and faster. The closer it got, the more systems failed. First artificial gravity, then shields, then the air. Those who didn’t die from falling equipment would have been killed by the soaring temperature as they entered Pandora’s atmosphere, or the sudden gravity, or impact. Jack couldn’t feel the pain, but he felt the impact as the station hit the surface, crushing the office around him, the screams of collapsing metal echoing as he stood in the reinforced glass of his office, watching as his kingdom fell around him. Poetic really.

Then Rhys appeared again. To gloat? No, he didn’t seem like that kinda kid. To lecture? That would be more like it. But once again that idiot left his Echo port open again and Jack was once more in that tiny little brain. It felt so cramped compared to the Helios mainframe but he figured Rhys was just a taxi to his next destination. But then Rhys did something unexpected.

Darkness again.

“Goddammit Rhys!”

Jack stops. That was his voice. He’d heard his own voice echoing around him.

“Huh?”

His own voice again.

“What the-?”

Slowly he opens his eyes and looks around the room. A lab of some kind. Bright, too bright, tall walls, two exits, high ceiling, fish tanks, white floor, tables, computers, and one small, mousy female looking up at him with a mix of shock, fear, admiration and excitement.

Jack blinks and stares down at himself. Still blue. Okay, still a projection. He can live with that for now.

“Welcome back, Sir”

Jack cautiously takes a step forward and the small female takes a sharp intake of breath. Still terrifying. Cool. He smirks, his hands opening either side of his waist and beginning to wander closer to her

“Hardly back though is it? I mean, look at me! Still blue! Still a floaty piece of data. And what is this place? Looks pretty snazzy if a bit run down” He runs a digital finger over an SMG lying on the desk next to her “Hyperion?”

“Yes, Sir” Her voice is shaky

“What is it? I don’t recognise it”

“The- uh- The Handsome Jackhammer, Sir”

He stops. Handsome Jackhammer? But that…? He’s hit with a wave of information; memories he couldn’t remember experiencing. Rhys’ voice echoes in his mind.

“I can’t let you just roam free, Jack”

“Oh c’mon, pumpkin! I can’t do anything to your systems! You’ve locked me out!”

Rhys leans against his desk, sighing as Jack pleas with him again, arms crossing and staring down at the floor space between them.

“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you not destroying me but you can’t just keep me in that thing! Apart from anything else I get bored! And it’s tiny in there. So cramped!”

“Jack, your way of stopping yourself from getting bored is killing employees”

Jack blinks for a second, his eyebrows raising as his head lowers slightly, shrugging, hands on his hips.

“Yeah? And? Everyone has a hobby” He scoffs

“You’re not killing my employees”

“I’m not gonna! Just, maybe, trip ‘em down the stairs or somethin’ I dunno”

Rhys sighs again, heavier.

“You’re not helping yourself here, y’know that?”

“C’mon Cupcake! You can’t stick me back in that thing! Please! I’ve begged you twice, I’m not begging again”

He watches as Rhys smirks slightly, his eyes looking up to meet Jacks as he stands up straight

“No, Rhys. I’m not begging again” Jack crosses his arms, his eyebrows dropping as his anger builds. Rhys watches Jacks body language change, drops his smirk and darts across the room to open the door to his personal lab off his main office in Atlas HQ.

“Okay, so, I had an idea-”

He stops, realising Jack isn’t following him and looks back. Jack turns to face him, his arms still crossed before looking back to Rhys’ desk where the echo eye and attached projector sit.

“You’re a freaking moron, Dum-Dum”

Sheepishly, Rhys makes his way back to the desk and picks up the contraption he had built to project Jack from the eye. As he lifts it, Jacks image disappears with an electric crack from the wire connection. Rhys blinks

“Oops…”

He darts back across to his lab and sets it down, reconnecting the wires carefully. He jumps away with a yelp, holding his flesh hand as a shock runs through him. Jack flickers back into existence behind him with a growl, flickering from blue to red

“Oh what I would give to strangle you right now. That HURT, asshole!” His eyes seem full of fire, anger causing his outline to crackle as he stares down at Rhys. He liked that his AI form allowed him to grow taller and more intimidating when he wanted.

Rhys quickly mutters an apology to him as he digs around in his lab, through drawers, opening cupboards, rapidly becoming more frustrated. Jack watches on, his anger fizzling away as he watches Rhys, clearly amused by his trouble before Rhys finds what he’s searching for. Triumphantly, he slams a Hyperion SMG on the table and grins at Jack.

“How would you like to be a gun?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, time to figure out what the heck is happening.  
> Where are we?  
> Who is this chick?  
> What's happening?  
> What's that thing?  
> So many questions.... it's time to answer a few

“Sir?”

Jack is brought back to the now by the small mousy female looking up at him, watching as his hand runs across the bevels on the SMG. He looks back to her, blinks once and steps toward her again. She stands before him, holding her breath, not taking a step back, just keeping her eyes on his. Jack bends at the waist to get to her eye level. She must come up to the middle of his chest, maybe slightly lower.

“You’re small” He notes, giving her a quick once over. She wears a yellow sweater, white collar poking out the neck with white lab coat over the top; her mousy hair clambered together in a top bun, torn but smart trousers with a leg holster, Hyperion pistol caught within, hanging at her right side.

“I didn’t think you were eight feet tall” She replies, her hands grabbing hold of the bottom of her sweater with both hands, still looking up at him, a small smirk crossing her lips. He blinks and stands straight again, hands on his hips, furrowing his brow as he feels himself shrink down, returning to his true height. He must have still had that activated when he was put in the gun. No wonder it was cramped. Now she was shoulder height. Better. No longer talking to a child. He looks at her sweater again.

“Hyperion?”

“Yes, Sir. Always”

Jack smiles to himself. Nice to know he still had people who would work for him even after all this time. He glances around the room again, recognising some of the décor.

“Good. Where are we?”

“Pandora”

Figures.

“Where?”

“Hyperion’s Grave”

Ouch.

“Grave?”

“It’s what the locals call it, Sir. The crash site of Helios. I managed to find one of the R&D labs in relatively good condition. Found myself a power core, cleaned this place up and, well, here we are!”

Jack was vaguely paying attention to her words, finding himself distracted as he studies her features. She still seems small in comparison to him, as she would, pale skin, dark blue eyes, tiny little hands. He leans forward again, inspecting her face.

“So, you got some kinda echo eye or what? Some kinda implant in your brain lettin’ you see me? You can see me, right?”

She smiles up at him, a hint of a blush crossing her cheeks from his attention

“Yes, Sir, I can see you”

“So what then? C’mon twinkle toes I haven’t got-”

As Jack begins to pace, the small one indicates up to three projectors around the room, all beaming light to his form, all moving with him. He follows her gaze before raising an arm to one side, watching as one of the projectors move with him. He lowers it before raising it up again, quicker, amusing himself as the small projector squeaks with mechanical anguish as it tries to keep up with him.

“Try not to break it, Sir. It took me a while to calibrate.”

He looks back to the small female, watching her as she moves to the computer and begins typing. Somehow the typing sounds distant.

“What you doing? And why am I so LOUD? I like being loud but this is… WOW I’m loud”

“That’ll be the speaker system, Sir. It’s also quite close to the microphone input. I’ll turn you down a little”

“Turn- Turn me DOWN? What!?”

“I can also do this, Sir”

 _Do what?_ He asks, but nothing comes from his mouth.

 _Do what?_ He tries again. A smile appears on her face and the penny drops.

 _Did you just_ “Mute me?!” Suddenly his voice returns, booming from the speakers around the room and she laughs softly

“I’m sorry. I also wanted to test to see if that would actually work”

He marches toward her, now an inch from her face, finger pointing directly at her nose, a growl emanating from his throat, uh, speakers

“Never. Do that. Again”

“Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir”

She looks away from him and back to the computer, trying to hide the smile on her face. She was cute, he’d give her that, but no one makes a fool of Handsome Jack and gets away with it. Jack turns his attention to the tanks around the room, each one filled with a blue-green liquid. He stands before one, his arms crossed across his chest and sighs, calling over his shoulder.

“So, you got a name?”

“Steele, Sir. Grace Steele”

“Well, Grace Steele, you look to have a whole operation going on here” He peers closer to the tanks “I’m right to assume these don’t house fish?”

Grace appears beside him, microphone in hand

“You would be right, Sir. They- uh- They contain… you.” He looks down to his left, raising an eyebrow to her, his curiosity peaking. She takes a breath, almost steadying herself, and continues.

“I had a theory. Everyone is born and everyone has their own strand of DNA. Unfortunately, after you were murdered by bandits-” He likes this chick “-the Hyperion board of directors removed your information from the database. Any record of you Hyperion had, from your days as a programmer to your final days as our leader, our CEO, are gone. They destroyed everything. But they couldn’t remove the impact you’d had on so many of us. Your office became a museum, with VIP admission being sky high, even by Hyperion standards.

“That day you appeared back on the station as you are now, you gave us hope. Made us think you were home and that Hyperion would continue to be successful again. I could feel the excitement buzzing through everyone around me! But then, we were attacked that same day.” She lowers her head, one hand clutching the bottom of her sweater again the other clinging onto the microphone. She takes a breath and turns to look up to Jack who is surprisingly silent, taking in the information, studying the tank

“Nakayama always said he would create an Artificial Intelligence of you, Handsome Jack Sir, but none of us believed it possible”

Her eyes were big, looking up at him with complete adoration. Jack notices her pause and looks out of the corner of his eye at her, a smirk crossing his lips. He had to get a handle on this situation before he got carried away. He clears his throat

“Yeah, okay, enough with the Nakalaka crap. What is this? You said it’s me?” He indicates back to the tube, recoiling slightly as he sees a shadow move in the liquid.

“The only source of your DNA is held within someone named Timothy Lawrence, your Doppelganger. Until recently he was kept trapped on the Handsome Jackpot due to your wonderful programming and a bomb strapped to his face”

Jack chuckles lightly. Ah yes. Timothy. He’d almost forgotten about the vaguely genetically modified, definitely surgically modified, handsome devil who contains his DNA, his blood type, and more Hyperion secrets than he would care to think.

“According to the EchoNet, a group of Vault Hunters recently infiltrated the Jackpot-” Jacks face drops

“WHAT? That place is supposed to be in lockdown! How the hell did they get in?” His arms fly up in anger, voice booming across the room again, feedback echoing through the speakers causing a high pitched wail to emit from the speakers. Grace rushes back to the computer, turning the speaker output down further.

“You can’t just shout like that in here, Sir! The others can’t hear you yet! Also, don’t break these tubes with your resonation! This has taken me YEARS of research and I would highly appreciate it if you didn’t ruin it immediately!”

Huh. The girl’s got sass too. Feisty.

“What others?”

She freezes, suddenly aware of what she’d said before coughing lightly and continuing.

“We got word on the echonet-”

“No. What others? I asked you a question, pumpkin”

A quick exhale in frustration emits from behind the computer as Grace continues to stare at the screen

“They told me you would be a handful, but I never expected this. Were you always like this, Sir?”

“Answer my question, cupcake.” He taps his foot in response to her frustration, enjoying how quickly she riles up. She punches the desk and growls in annoyance.

“The others!” She waves her hand toward the door behind her as she moves toward him, avoiding looking at him “Out there. Bandits and such! I figured keeping you a secret until we finish figuring out a way to get you out of the projection and back into a body would be a good idea, so no other Hyperion worker, past or present knows you’re functioning right now. And I’d prefer to keep it that way if that’s okay with you Sir?”

Grace looks up at him and stares into his eyes, piercing his gaze with her anger. He eyes her questioningly, arms folded. Her eyes widen in horror as she realises and she once again grabs hold of the bottom of her sweater, eyes flicking to his holographic shoes. Jack slowly steps forward, stopping a few feet from her, leaning forward to eye level once more, face inches from hers.

“And what do we say, Gracie?”

“I’m sorry Sir. I’m sorry for my outburst. It won’t happen again. Please I-”

He smirks, standing straight and placing his hands on his hips. There was something familiar about this one but he couldn’t for the life of him figure it out.

“Do I know you, Grace Steele?”

“No, Sir.”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-Yes, Sir. I’m just- just another R&D lackey, Sir.”

He smirks, looking her up and down again

“Just another R&D lackey couldn’t have come up with all this, sweetcheeks.”

She flicks her eyes up to his again, a sly grin appearing across her lips, mirroring his. So she was hiding something. Jack opens his mouth again to speak before a loud clang on the door behind her interrupts them.

“Shit! Hide!” She hisses, running back to the computer. Jack blinks at her, before opening his arms wide and leisurely following her.

“Oh yeah? And how am I gonna do that?”

Grace looks up at him, a look of apology on her face as she presses enter. Suddenly darkness. Again. Jack sighs to himself. Oh how he was looking forward to the day he gets his own body back again.


End file.
